New features for CNN comments

Story highlights

New features make it easier to follow conversations and share them with your social networks

We are listening to what you tell us and adding your perspective to CNN's coverage

If you've been reading the comments on CNN stories, you've probably noticed that things look a little bit different. We've updated our comment system to include some new features that will improve the discussion and hopefully build a greater sense of community on the site.

A lot of the changes are designed to make it easier for you to keep up with the conversations you're interested in. You'll get real-time notifications when someone mentions you or replies to one of your comments, so you can respond right away. You can also find the most active discussions and see what our top commenters are saying.

It's also easier to share comments on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks so you can see what your friends and followers have to say about a story.

The other big change is that we've removed the "like" button and replaced it with up-and-down arrows so you can "downvote" the comments that don't add to the discussion as well as "upvote" those you think are interesting. You can still flag comments that violate our community guidelines, and moderators will take appropriate action.

One thing that won't change is that CNN will be listening to what you want to tell us, whether it's in the comments, on social media or on CNN iReport.

Everyone has a unique perspective on how the news affects their lives, and we want to make sure we include as many voices as possible in our news coverage. We've found that we have users who are experts on almost every imaginable topic -- from nuclear physics to grammar to where to get the best sandwich in St. Louis on a Tuesday night.

We get a lot of great ideas from the comments, and our producers are always experimenting with new ways to share your stories with the world. You can see some of our latest examples on our comments Tumblr.

If you have questions, suggestions or complaints, let us know in the comments below. We will be checking in throughout the day to respond. If you have a concern that you don't want to raise publicly, feel free to e-mail me at david.williams@cnn.com, and I'll respond as soon as possible.